What role will the Foundation play in light of existing regulatory and other organizations?
The provincial securities commissions have a statutory mandate to protect investors from unfair, improper or fraudulent practices and to foster fair and efficient capital markets.  They are required to balance the interests of all stakeholders.  In the process of developing policy and priorities the commissions have the benefit of sophisticated input from listed issuers and financial institutions and their legal and other advisors.  However, regulators have limited input from investors, particularly retail investors.

At present the process for developing public policy and priorities lacks balance in that investors are woefully underrepresented.  For example, when the CSA or SROs issue requests for comments on proposals for regulatory reform, they generally receive written submissions from the different stakeholders in the financial markets. Professional written submissions advocating the interests of these investors are not common.

What distinguishes the Foundation from existing shareholder rights organizations such as the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance?
The Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (“CCGG”) is an organization that represents Canadian institutional shareholders.  The mission of the CCGG is to represent institutional investors through the promotion of best corporate governance practices and to align the interests of boards and management with those of the shareholder.  The CCGG is essentially a committee of approximately 50 institutional investors who are its members.

While the CCGG focuses on corporate governance issues, the Foundation will take a broader view and will comment on any capital markets issues of importance to retail investors.  The Foundation will work with CCGG to advance shareholder rights in Canada.

What distinguishes the Foundation from Existing Investor and Consumer Rights Advocates and Organizations?
There are several retail investor and consumer rights advocates and organizations in Canada. Organizations such as the Small Investors Protection Association (“SIPA”) and the Consumer Council of Canada (CCC) have worked valiantly to advance the interests of retail investors.  SIPA in particular has been active in advocating for better investor protection for Canadian investors including in specific cases such as the ABCP fiasco. However, with scarce resources existing investor and consumer rights organizations do not have the ability to effectively represent the interests of retail investors in all aspects of securities regulation. Furthermore, existing organizations tend to be focused on the relationship between investors and the financial industry whereas the Foundation will address all investor issues in securities regulation including issues related to listed issuers and shareholder rights generally. The Foundation hopes to work with investor and consumer organizations like SIPA and the CCC to advance the interests of retail investors.

Will the Foundation have an educational role?
The Foundation will focus its educational efforts on informing investors about important regulatory issues including through publishing research and position papers of the Foundation on its website and elsewhere.  The Foundation will not seek to duplicate the more general educational role played by Canadian securities regulators, the Investor Education Fund or investor education initiatives of other organizations.

What activities are not part of FAIR Canada’s mandate?
We do not advise individual investors on specific cases.  We do not litigate or become involved in class action lawsuits though we may file “amicus” briefs where a court or regulator may benefit from hearing an investor perspective on issues in a trial or administrative hearing.